New Camera. Cannot Auto Focus

OmarColletion

New member
Hey friends, Thank you for checking out my post. So I just bought a new D7200 yesterday. I obviously ran home eager to try it out, charged the battery, and slapped on my AF-S Nikkor 35mm 1.8G lens. But when I tried autofocusing, by half pressing the shutter button, it would not do anything. Not even a beep. I've been searching the internet for hours to try and find a solution but nothing has worked. I have the lens of M/A mode, the camera on autofocus mode, and i've played with some settings to help the autofocus feature. But nothing is working. I'm thinking maybe the camera is defected, or its the lens that i'm using, or maybe something else. I'm hoping someone can help me out or else I might just need to return my camera. I really appreciate any helpful feedback.
 

pforsell

Senior Member
Brand new camera in an unopened box? Then the autofocus should activate by a half press of the shutter button. If on the other hand that camera has been demoed in the store, then maybe some settings have been changed, and the autofocus is activated by AF-ON button (if your camera has one, I've never used D7200?).

Just to be sure, do the two button reset. This should enable autofocusing by a half press of the shutter button, in case someone has altered the settings.

I'd do a gentle cleaning of the lens contact pins and the corresponding camera contacts. There might be some oxidization after a long storage (that camera model has been discontinued over a year and your particular unit may have been manufactured a long time ago). A gentle wipe with a non-dusting microfiber cloth is usually sufficient. Do not use any liquids.

If cleaning doesn't help, either the lens or camera might need to be replaced.

Don't worry. Mass-produced electronics sometimes have small problems. Better to have it now than a week after the warranty period has expired. :)
 

nickt

Senior Member
Does the camera take a picture or does it refuse to fire the shutter as well? This might be a clue if it turns out to be a setting problem.
Also, over the years, I've seen two new people tighten the lens beyond the click stop. Gently twist your lens in both directions after mounting to be sure it is resting at the click stop. It the lens is screwed on tightly passed the click, then sometimes the contacts can fail to mate. This can happen if you hold the lens release button while installing the lens.
 

Texas

Senior Member
Nikon, on most of its AF lenses, labels the A mode M/A so you will know it is ok to focus manually when in auto mode.
 

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride.
We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

Since you already had a lens, do you also have another camera? If so does the lens focus on that camera? Do you have anything displayed on the top LCD with the battery installed? If not, you may have a defective battery, charger, or camera. If the display is active, and yes this may seem obvious, but have you turned on the camera? If none of this or the or a reset fixes the problem, I would take it back for an exchange.
 
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